YEARS 7-10

ADVANCING ENGLISH SKILLS WITH

MULTIMEDIABarrie McMahon Robyn Quin

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Science Press. ABN 98 000 073 861

© Science Press 2009First published 2009

Science PressPrivate Bag 7023 Marrickville NSW 1475 AustraliaTel: (02) 9516 1122 Fax: (02) 9550 1915sales@sciencepress.com.au www.sciencepress.com.au

Introduction iv

Acknowledgements vi

1 New technologies, culture

and literacy 1

Communication and technology 4

Digital technology 15

Communication and culture 16

New technologies. culture and literacy 21

The World Wide Web 24

2 Accessing the World Wide Web 29

Finding the information you need 31

Source credibility 35

Community service information 39

Censorship and blocks 39

3 The World Wide Web 43

The Web 46

Webpage design 48

Web advertising 54

Web news 56

Digital media diversification 56

4 Communicating and publishing

with the new technologies 59

Emails 61

Text messages 65

PowerPoint presentations 68

Word processing 71

5 Shared spaces: Blogs,

Podcasts and Wikis 73

Sharing blog spaces 74

Podcasts 89

Wikis 92

6 Computer Games 95

Why study games? 96

Shared spaces: MMORPGs 97

Game design 99

Representation 104

Contexts and social interaction 111

Reader position 116

Making your own games 117

Conclusion 117

7 Digital storytelling 119

Stories 120

Digital stories 121

Elements of narrative 125

Narrative in digital storytelling 130

Having something to say 133

The technical bit 140

Glossary 142

Index 143

Introduction iv 5 Shared spaces: Blogs,

CONTENTS

Advancing English Skills with Multimedia iiiScience Press

INTRODUCTIONThis book is designed to help you understand the information communication technologies, also known as ICT, multimedia, or the new media. Most of you are quite proficient in using some of these digital technologies, for example in playing computer games. What is not always obvious is the important role our forms of communication, be they games, World Wide Web access or emails, play in helping us to understand ourselves and our world. You will need to develop more literacy skills in order to further this understanding. As you become more able to use these new media, your satisfaction and enjoyment of them will increase.

Multimedia does more than give you pleasure. As important means of communication they provide varying perspectives on life, and different insights into the way people live and think. The explanations provided in this book and the tasks that you undertake will illustrate the connection between how these media are constructed and what they may mean to you and those around you.

Because the new media are such important forms of communication, it is now apparent that the skills needed to read, understand and use them are the new literacy. The new media demand good reading and writing skills and skills that are specific to the technology.

With many books the practice is to start at the beginning and work through page by page until you get to the end. You may want to do this out of interest but it is more likely that your teacher will guide you in selecting the parts for study. There is enough information in the book to last for four years so it does not have to be covered in four weeks!

Your teacher will also guide you in the tasks to be completed. It is likely that when you begin, those tasks that are marked * will be set. As you learn more about multimedia, the tasks with ** or *** may be more appropriate.

As you work through the chapters in this book, your task is to create your own journal. Chapter 1 provides more information about your journal.

AcknowledgementsThe authors wish to thank and acknowledge the contributions of the following: Principal, Pat Nottle, teacher Paul Fuller and staff and students of Orange Grove Primary School. Ian Parr, Knox Grammar School. Marilyn Pretorious, Ravenswood School for Girls. Karen McEwen, Masada College. John Watts, Marist Brothers, North Sydney. Eva Gold, English Teachers Association, NSW. Kalbarri District High School staff and students. Karen Philp, English Teachers Association, WA. Jan McMahon, author of Poppa’s Story (chapter 7). Bev Stone, Carla Richards, Kevin Pilkington , staff and students of John Willcock High School. Images: Figures 1.4, 1.10, 21.a, 1.21b, 5.9, 5.13, 6.6, 7.4: Authors’ collection. Figures 1.13, 2.13: Department of Education and Training, WA. Case study page 45: ABC website. Figure 6.15 Sunday Times, News limited.

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Science Press

chapter 1 New Technologies, Culture and Literacy

Advancing English Skills with Multimedia

chapter 1

New Technologies, Culture and LiteracyIn this chapter you will learn:

forms of communication

society affects our means of communication

communication technologies

meaning

technologies.

You will also have the opportunity to improve your skills related to:

1

This chapter has many activities that you can do in order to learn about communication and the new technologies. You can also learn by undertaking a lengthy project, perhaps over 3 or 4 weeks, or by doing both. Here is a suggested project you could undertake.

Changes in communication and cultureForms of communication have changed a lot over the past 70 years, and culture has also changed, though a little more slowly. (Later in this chapter you will learn more about culture.)

One way of finding out about these changes is to talk with those who have lived through the changes, people like your grandparents, their friends or those in your street who have been around for a long time. When you collect their stories – the small and big things in their lives – these changes will become apparent.

To collect the stories of these people you will need to develop interview skills, negotiating skills, become a good listener and learn how to ask questions that follow up good leads. Working as a group will help you to collect different types of information. It will also give you the chance to practise your skills on each other before you use them on others.

Various types of information can be collected. Audio tape interviews, video interviews, old photographs, perhaps even old film footage can be a starting point for the stories that you collect. Remember it is the little stories that will tell a lot about communication and culture. Someone describing their first day at school is more likely to say something about the culture of the time than a five-minute description of the Second World War.

Your task in this project is to collect some stories from older people, to sift through them to identify any changes in communication and culture over that time, then to present your findings to others. Your presentation could be a PowerPoint, a digital story that includes photos and voice, an audio, a written article, a verbal presentation or a combination of these.

The information in this chapter will help you get started and provide clues for things to look for.

This chapter has many activities that you can do in order to learn aand the new technologies. You can also learn by undertaking a le

3 4 k b d i b h H i d j

PROJECT

Figure 1.1 There are various ways of collecting and expressing the stories that people have to tell.Figure 1.1 There are various wways o

2 Advancing English Skills with Multimedia Science Press

Your teacher may need to guide you in this task.

To help you work through the ideas and tasks in this book you will need to create your own Information and Communications Technology Journal. It will help you keep a record of what you have learned, the progress you are making, and will be a handy reference source for you. Your journal could be on a computer file or a written document in a looseleaf file. Even if your journal is on computer, you will also need a handwritten workbook because you will not have your computer with you every time you learn something new.

Divide your journal into sections namely:

development are clearer to you, it will be time to write your foreword. Chapter 3 also provides some help on writing a foreword.

you learn about new technologies. It should be subdivided alphabetically. You will need to write the meaning of the new words, abbreviations and acronyms and provide an example sentence illustrating how they are used.

internet explorer but you should record useful websites in your written workbook until you get access to your computer. Do not forget to describe why each website is useful. The websites below are a starting point for your collection.

new topics. Record these in alphabetical order so that you can find them again later if you need them. It also helps to have a standard way of recording the information.

rules such as this.)

written responses, illustrations or graphs. You are not expected to complete every task but rather, with the guidance

projects will help you learn more about using the new technologies in communication and also improve your English language skills. The approach that you take could be a project approach or you could concentrate on some of the tasks that are set, or both.

Figure 1.2 Your journal.

ACTIVITY

1.1

er may need to guide you in this task

Your journal

SKILLS

Here is a standard presentation for references that is widely used.

Name of author/s, Title of the book [in italics], (Name of the publisher, place of publication, date – [in brackets])

Some of this information can be found on the title page of the book (not the front cover). The date usually appears shortly after where the printing history is recorded. An example is this book:

McMahon B and Quin R, Insight: Advancing English Skills with Multimedia, (Science Press, Marrickville, 2009)

If you go to a web server and enter ‘referencing works’ you will obtain plenty of information about how to reference other materials but you will need to choose carefully because many of the sites are for academics and university students, not school students. Your teacher can help with this as there are advantages in having standard referencing across the school.

Referencing

**

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chapter 1 New Technologies, Culture and Literacy

Communication and technologyAncient technologyWhen early humans began to stand upright the first technologies they used involved sticks, pieces of rock, and fire. Rocks and sticks could be shaped into weapons and used for hunting, digging and making shelters. Fire could be used for warmth and later it was discovered that some foods were improved when they were heated in the fire.

These technologies had limited value for communicating. Perhaps brandishing a stick spear could communicate anger but most communication probably occurred through the sounds the early humans made – grunts, gurgles and laughs. The need to communicate was important for the survival of the species. Without improved communication skills they would be overrun by other bigger species of animals. They needed to alert each other of danger, hunt in groups and to be able to pass on information that was important for the survival of the species.

The grunts and gurgles developed into distinct sounds, into a language that could be used to convey more effective and detailed meaning. This was possible because human survival depended in part on the development of its brain. Brainpower was applied to improve communication and to devise ways in which the boundaries of verbal communication could be stretched.

Figure 1.3 An illustration of a caveman.Figure 1.3 An illustration of a caveman.

SKILLS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that has been constructed by those who use it. Some checks are made on the accuracy of the information but it is important to remember that there are many contributors and in many cases what is accurate is not clear-cut. More information on wikis can be found in Chapter 5.

http://www.webopedia.com/

This website explains technical terms so if you come across a term that you do not understand, check it out on this website.

Some handy for obtaining information

websites

inth

Thsocowpawdeco

Did you know...Abbreviationsand acronyms

An acronym is a word formed from several words or parts

of words. For example, TAFE is an acronym for Technical

and Further Education.

Email is an abbreviation of electronic mail. It is a new

word, one of thousands that get added to the English

language each year. Words are sometimes spelt differently

in different countries and new words or words that are

acronyms sometimes have different spellings. Other

like consistency in the way that words are spelt. One way

of obtaining consistency is to develop what is called a

style manual that not only outlines preferred spelling but

other matters such as grammar and communication layout.

Another way is to adopt the spelling that is mentioned first

in the dictionary of choice. For Australians, this is often The

Macquarie Dictionary.

ICT is an abbreviation for Information and Communication

Technologies. This is an expression that is used to group the

new technologies such as computers, mobile phones and

their various offshoots such as emails and digital cameras.

4 Advancing English Skills with Multimedia Science Press

ACTIVITY

1.2

Some of the early words that were developed were probably derived from the sounds of nature, those of the animals and the elements. Some of these sounds are still in our language today, for example the word hiss resembles the sound that a snake makes. These are called onomatopoeias.

As a group:

In your journal:

e early words that were developed were probably derived from

Onomatopoeia

ACTIVITY

1.3

Figure 1.4 shows an example of a rock painting. Over the years many of the images have been lost but those who carved them and those in their community would have known what the images meant. It was a way of communicating information to present and future generations. Here is some information:

Below these rocks there is a waterhole. Many animals use this place to drink so it is a good hunting place. It is important not to disturb the spirits by fouling the waterhole.

In your journal:

message.

efforts.

As a group:

used. Add to your dictionary symbols for fish, baby, fire, danger. Label your symbols.

Recordinginformation

Early communication technologiesPerhaps the earliest technologies used for communication were the hard flint rocks that were used to carve symbols on rocks or trees. Some of these rock carvings, many thousands of years old, still exist today.

Figure 1.4 A photograph of a rock painting.

*

**

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chapter 1 New Technologies, Culture and Literacy